We’re back to the PGA Tour this week and that means another chance to nail a huge prize in DraftKings’ great golf games. You can win as much as $20,000 for as little as $3 this week and those kind of payouts interest us greatly so here is our advice for the RBC Canadian Open.
Profile
With this tournament being sandwiched in between two majors the field isn’t as strong as other weeks so we’re probably going to have to get a little creative with our picks this week and maybe go against the grain a little.
As we highlighted in our betting preview there is two ways to play this course. You can either overpower it or you can plot your way around it with solid ball striking and accurate hitting. Our teams this week are largely going to be formed with the latter although we’ll find room for the odd bomber in there to gobble up the points on the par 5s.
Given that we’re focusing on accuracy for the most part this week the three statistics we think are the key are:
- Total driving
- Proximity to the pin
- Strokes gained tee to green
Star Men
As ever with this section we will focus on those players who cost $8,000 or more. With this being a fairly weak field there aren’t that many of them.
MAIN PICK – Brandt Snedeker $10,300
The 2013 champion has a very good record here having finished fifth in the event when it was held here back in 2009. When going well Snedeker is a cut making machine so we should get four rounds of point scoring from him and coming in here off the back of a solid effort in Scotland last week I’m expecting the former winner to contend. All lines need a team leader and he’s ours.
PICK – Emiliano Grillo $8,500
We’re really keen on the Argentine to go well this week. Not only does the course suit his style but he arrives here in good form off the back of top 20 efforts in three of his last four tournaments and 12 months ago he set the early pace with a 64. He was found out the longer he went on but with a year of experience on tour and being a much better player now I don’t expect such a fade. At this price he’s a no brainer.
PICK – Kevin Streelman $8,200
Always a favourite of ours when he is on form as he runs up the birdies like few others and the American comes in here in good form. He has finished in the top 15 in each of his last three starts and after a little break he should be itching at the minute to go here. His birdie streaks are both regular and trustworthy and we’ll take him to chalk some up this week.
AVOID – Kevin Kisner $8,300
If we’re paying this much for a player we need more than one top 10 since January as a return. No doubt that on his day he is a class act but those days haven’t been coming along as regularly as we would want when ploughing a sixth of our budget on someone. Made the cut last week but did nothing else. We can leave him well alone at this price.
Mid-Range Players
This group are those priced between $6,500 and $8,000 inclusively of which there are plenty this week.
PICK – Ryan Palmer $8,000
Only missed three cuts all season and while he hasn’t threatened the title too many times four rounds of scoring from him here could yield good points as he has the length to take care of the par 5s and the short game to find some birdies on the par 4s. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets himself into the mix this week and he looks quite appealing at this price.
PICK – Graham DeLaet $7,500
Home game man for DeLaet and he has the power to keep things under control around here. Had his problems recently but looked to put those past him last week when he carded a mammoth 22 birdies and an eagle in a week of just under 100pts. I expect plenty more birdies from him this week at a relatively cheap price for his credentials on this course.
PICK – Daniel Summerhays $7,000
Didn’t register many birdies last week but apart from Stenson and Mickelson who did right? We saw in the US Open that he can scramble well enough to keep the big numbers off his card and with 20 birdies at the Quicken Loans National he showed he can score too. This course isn’t so long that he is at his limit so with four rounds almost assured given his quality he can pile up the points at a pretty cheap price.
PICK – Brian Harman $6,800
The left hander is just coming into a little bit of form. He ran up over 100pts in the Barbasol last week courtesy of 23 birdies across the week and a top 10 finish and I’m expecting him to follow that up here. He has only missed one of his last eight cuts so we should get four rounds out of him and if we do there are enough automatic birdie chances for him on this course for him to rack up the points. He’s pretty cheap based on recent form.
AVOID – Graeme McDowell $7,800
I’m a big fan of Graeme McDowell but he isn’t a big fan of this place. Four of the five rounds he has played on this course have been over par and three of them considerably so which means we could be looking at a missed cut. Gmac has been talking a good game in recent times but three missed cuts in his last six PGA events and only avoiding another because bad weather late in the day brought the cut to his score last week means something isn’t clicking. He takes up too much of our budget to justify his current form.
AVOID – Robert Allenby $6,700
The easiest dodge of all. One cut made in 20 tournaments this year. How he costs this much is anyone’s guess. Take away the 6 and we still wouldn’t be interested.
AVOID – Mike Weir $6,600
This might be a home game for Mike but that’s all he’s got going for him. Hasn’t made a cut this year and we want more than two rounds if we’re coughing up this kind of dough. Much better value who will play four rounds this week so run for the hills from the former Masters champion this week.
Bottom End Players
Those players who cost less than $6,500 are the focus for this section of our breakdown. There are quite a few in this group this week.
PICK – Thomas Aiken $6,400
Straight hitting South African who should be able to give himself enough opportunities to make the cut and four rounds of scoring at this price is exactly when we’re looking for from a relatively cheap pick.
PICK – Vijay Singh $6,300
Vijay isn’t getting any younger but he is still competing with the young guns. He has made six cuts at regular PGA Tour level and was runner up at Tiger’s tournament a few weeks back. Every chance he can score nicely for us at a cheap price.
PICK – Stuart Appleby $5,900
Possibly the best value in the field if he can play like he did in the Barbasol last week. He carded 16 birdies to just three bogeys in a strong finish there last week and that sort of scoring over four rounds will pay nicely. Generally a streaky player so we should get four rounds and that’s exactly what we’re after at this price.
AVOID – Carl Pettersson $5,900
Missed eight of his last nine cuts and barely featured after making the weekend in the other tournament. No form whatsoever to speak about so those looking for a cheap pick to open up the door to another expensive one shouldn’t be looking in this direction.
AVOID – Brendon Todd $6,200
Talented player but he’s gone at the game at the minute. Missed his last 17 cuts so how we have to pay this much for him is anyone’s guess. Don’t do it.
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